Stacking chairs



Nov. 10, 1964 Filed May 6, 1963 L. BLODEE 3,156,498

STACKING CHAIRS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ZE/F 510955 5% @ZMZ Nov. 10, 1964 L. BLODEE smcxxuc CHAIRS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 6, 1963 M W M W Z United States Patent 3,156,498 STACKING CHAIRS Leif lllodee, Holland, Mich, assignor to Herman Miller, inc, Zeeland, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed May 6, 1963, Ser. No. 278,497 6 (Ilaims. (Cl. 297-162) This invention relates to stacking chairs, and more particularly to a stackable tablet arm chair.

Lightweight, internested stacking chairs like that shown and claimed in US. Patent 2,893,469, have become extremely popular due to their versatility, simplicity, sturdiness, comfort, minimum of servicing, portability, compactness when stacked, and stability when stacked. A significant need has been realized in schools and auditoriums for a chair having these requirements, but also providing a tablet arm for writing and related purposes.

The tablet chair in US. Patent 3,082,036, assigned to the assignee herein, was conceived to help fill this need. This latter chair allows ready stacking by simple removal of the sturdy tablet arm. Although this chair has many advantages, still the arm tablet must be removed before the chairs can be stacked. It is heretofore been impractical, and in fact impossible as far as is known, to stack tablet arm chairs in a stable manner when the tablet arm is permanently mounted on the chairs. The conventional tablet arm, due to its one-sided location on the chair, and its elevation above the chair seat, makes proper telescoping of the chairs impossible. If stacking is attempted, the stack is off-balance and dangerous. As a consequence, a choice must normally be made between a permanently mounted tablet arm on a chair and stackability, since these characteristics are normally incompatible.

It is therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a tablet arm chair which can be conveniently internested and stacked with other like chairs into a neat, stable, relatively high stack, yet without removal of the tablet arm from the chairs.

It is another important object of this invention to provide a stackable arm tablet chair enabling the user to position the tablet arm in a writing position, or alternatively in a second position allowing easy personal entry and exit from the chair.

It is another object of this invention to provide a tablet arm chair, especially a stackable one, in which the tablet can be readily adjusted by the user, without tools or special skill or knowledge, in a front to rear manner, providing optimum positioning to suit the arm length of the user, yet without undesired movement when any significant amount of weight is applied to the arm with normal usage.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a stackable tablet arm chair wherein portions of the tablet arm support also support the chair on the chair therebelow. The two normally incompatible characteristics of stackability and permanently mounted arm are not only compatible, but also both are achieved by the same construction.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following specification when studied in connection with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel stackable tablet arm chair with the tablet shown in its horizontal position;

PEG. 2 is a side elevational view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of two of the novel chairs shown stacked;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the novel chair;

Patented Nov. 10, 1964 FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view of the pivotal connection between the arm tablet and its support bracket;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, front elevational view of two of the novel chairs shown stacked; and

FIG. 7 is a front, elevational, fragmentary, enlarged View of the pivotal connection between the tablet arm and the chair bracket.

Briefly, this inventive chair is a stackable arm tablet chair having a base, a seat shell, an arm support bracket means, and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on the bracket means to move from a horizontal position for use, to a generally Vertical position slightly more than from the horizontal position for stacking. It remains in the vertical position until purposely rotated about the pivotal mount. The arm tablet is adjustable forwardly or rearwardly on the bracket means until the weight of a users arm is applied. Portions of the support bracket means also comprise a support for the chair on a lower chair when stacked.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the novel chair 10 includes a shell 12, a base 14 and a tablet arm assembly 16.

The pre-formed conventional shell 12 is preferably a fiber reinforced synthetic resin molded under heat and pressure to the desired shape and configuration. Preferably the edges are additionally reinforced to prevent splitting. The resins most commonly used are polyesters of various colored pigmentation. The fibers most commonly used are filamentary glass. The material is somewhat resilient, making the chair comfortable, is lightweight, is not readily subject to damage or breakage, has high impact and surface abrasion resistance, is vermin proof, may be readily cleaned with soap and Water or a damp cloth. These characteristics and materials may be widely Varied.

The base or supporting frame 14 includes a front standard or leg structure 18 and a rear standard or leg structure 24 Each of these leg structures is identical to the other. Each is formed from a single piece of tubular steel. The front leg structure includes two legs 22 and 24 joined at the top by a cross-piece 26 shaped generally like a large U. The rear leg structure 20, likewise includes two rear legs 28 and 3b with a corresponding top cross-piece 32.

Mounting straps 34 (FIG. 2) are secured by welding or other suitable means to the cross-pieces of the front and rear leg structures. Mounting straps are secured to the downwardly extending central portions of these cross-pieces. The ends of the mounting straps are bent upwardly and slightly twisted to provide a supporting surface conforming to the contoured bottom surface or seat of shell 12. Holes are provided in the ends of the mounting straps through which screws can be inserted for securing the seat to the mounting straps, and thus to the supporting frame. The seat 38 of shell 12 supports back 40 of the shell by the integral juncture therebetween.

The mounting straps 34 are secured to the circular shock mounts 42, each of which has an internally threaded female insert adapted to receive a screw, as shown in more detail in US. Patent 2,647,136.

In the preferred form of this invention, the front legs extend downwardly and forwardly, while the rear legs extend downwardly and rearwardly. Legs 22 and 28 are anchored in this divergent relationship by a generally trapezoidally shaped cross-piece 50 welded at its ends to the legs. A loop 52 (shown in detail in US. Patent 2,893,469) is secured to the upper portion of this crosspiece.

0n the side of the chair where the arm tablet 16 is mounted, legs 24 and 36B are maintained and rigidly supported in their divergent relationship by the generally U-shaped bracket means 54 for the arm tablet 56, and more specifically by cross-piece 58 forming the base of this U. Arms 60 and 62 extend upwardly from the base 58 of this U, past seat 38 of the chair. The lower end of this bracket means is welded or otherwise suitably secured to legs 24 and 30. It preferably includes a rod 66 connected between the arms 60 and 62 above and parallel to the cross-piece 58, so that the hook shaped element 70 which has its lower ends welded to the crosspiece 58, can be welded adjacent its uppermost portion to this rod 66. This hook construction and its attachment is very similar to that illustrated in' Patent 2,893,469. This hook 7d and the loop 52 on the opposite side are normally employed to gang the chairs in a row by inserting the hook of one chair into the loop of the next, and so forth. Consequently, this hook and loop is optional on the novel chair, and is not necessary for the invention which concerns the stacking of the tablet arm chair.

The upper ends of arms 60 and 62 are formed into horizontal forwardly projecting fingers, 6t) and 62. These fingers are co-axial as well as projecting in the same direction. They are substantially parallel to the floor, but slanted slightly forwardly upwardly. These fingers form pivotal supports to receive a pair of annular collars '76 and 7d affixed to the underside of the tablet 56. Collars 76 and 8% are fixed as by weldment to an angle piece 80 which extends over a major portion of the length of the tablet. Angle piece 30 is bolted to the tablet.

The length of terminal fingers 6t) and 62' of arms 60 and 62 may be varied as is desired. Relative forward and rearward adjusting movement of tablet 56 on the chair is determined by the excess of length of these fingers over the length of one of the collars 76 and 78. Rearward movement of the collars is limited by snap rings 86 (FIG. or equivalent drive pins or other stop means in front of one or both collars. These snap rings are of conventional construction and interfit in pre-formed grooves in the annular fingers 6d and 62'. The adjusting movement, therefore, is determined by the amount of play of one or both of the collars between the angles and the snap rings.

The pivotal connection between the annular collars and the cylindrical finger projections allows rotation of tablet 56 with respect to the chair. In the lower horizontal position of the table 56, the lower end of angle piece 86 abuts one or both of the arms 60 and 62 (FIG. 7). Thus, the angle piece 80 serves as a stop and a support, so that weight placed on the tablet will be withstood to provide a rigid structure during use. When the tablet is rotated upwardly, it moves slightly more than 90 to a position slightly past true vertical, as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 4, and illustrated in FIG. 6. The center of gravity of the tablet maintains it in its raised position until it is purposely lowered to the horizontal position again. It is supported in this raised position by physical contact of edge 88 of the angle piece or edge 57 of the tablet with one or both of the arms 60 and 62. This forms a stop means to prevent further rotation of the tablet. This particular position of the tablet past the vertical plane is important to achieve stacking of the chairs without interference occurring between adjacent tablets, and also to cause each tablet to remain in a raised poistion for convenience.

The tablet 56 is preferably formed of a molded reinforced plastic of polyester or the like similar to the chair, but may be made of a variety of materials, configurations, and shapes. Likewise, the bracket means for the tablet is preferably of tubular steel except for angle piece 80, which is solid steel. Alternatively, aluminum, or various alloys, may be employed.

The tablet arm chairs may be either right handed, as

illustrated in FIG. 4, or left handed, as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. These are mirror images of each other with the principles and structural features being the same. During usage, right handed and left handed arm chairs may be ganged together by interconnecting the hook '79 on each chair with the loop 52 on the adjacent chair, to provide rows of desired length. Alternatively, the chairs need not be ganged but may be used individually. During usage, the tablet 56 is placed in its horizontal position illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 7. The user may enter or leave the chair with the arm conveniently raised. To suit the arm length of the user after the tablet is lowered, the tablet is adjusted forwardly or rearwardly as illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 2. When arm weight is applied to the tablet, angle piece is pressed against bracket arms 60 and/or 62, and with a great amount of leverage to create a large frictional force between the edge of piece 8% and the arms so that the tablet cannot move while weight of any significant amount is being applied.

If the door space used by the plurality of the novel chairs is needed, they are conveniently and quickly stacked, without removal of the tablet arms, merely by pivoting the tablets to their raised position. The chairs are then simply telescopically placed one upon another, so that the front leg supports 18' fit directly in front of the front leg support of the chair immediately below, and the rear leg supports 20' do likewise.

The lower cross-piece 53 of the novel bracket means 54 rests upon the upper cross bar 66 of the chair immediately below, on the arm side of the chair. On the opposite side of the chair, the lower portion of the generally trapezoidally shaped cross-piece 5t rests upon the upper bar of this cross-piece on the chair immediately therebelow. Since the tablets 56 tilt slightly outwardly away from the chair after their more than rotation, they internest neatly as illustrated in FIG. 6 without any interference. Consequently, a large stack of such chairs of substantial height can be readily formed, without creating an unstable assembly.

Making the change between usage and stacking storage is therefore convenient, simple, requires no extra tools nor skill, requires no removal of parts, and can be accomplished by school children. Yet, sturdiness of the tablet arm is not sacrificed.

These and several other advantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those familiar with the field. Further, additional obvious modifications may be readily apparent to those in the art upon studying the foregoing descriptive material of the preferred illustrated form of the invention. These obvious modifications, when incorporating the principles of this invention, are deemed to be part of the invention, which is to be limited only by the scope of'the appended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures to those defined therein.

1 claim:

1. A stackable arm tablet chair capable of stacking Without removal of the arm tablet, comprising: a base; a seat mounted on said base; arm tablet support bracket means affixed to said base and extending upwardly alongside and above said seat; an arm tablet mounted on said bracket means with a pivotal connection with a front to rear pivotal axis with respect to said seat; said tablet being pivotal about said axis, laterally with respect to said seat, from a horizontal use position to a second, generally vertical stacking position; said tablet having portions cooperatively engaged with said bracket means to maintain its vertical position until purposely shifted to its horizontal position, and said tablet being slightly past the true vertical plane in said second position, to tilt laterally and upwardly diagonally outwardly away from said seat, thereby allowing tablet internesting with stacking of said chair with identical chairs.

2. The chair in claim 1 wherein said tablet has portions engaging said bracket means to rigidly support said tablet in its horizontal position.

3. A stackable arm tablet chair comprising: a base; a seat mounted on said base; arm tablet support bracket means extending alongside and above said seat; an arm tablet mounted on said bracket means with a front to rear pivotal connection; said tablet being laterally pivotal about said connection from a first horizontal use position, to a second generally upright position slightly past true vertical to a slight outward slant for stacking; cooperative stop means between said bracket means and said tablet, positioned to engage and prevent further rotational movement of said tablet on said axis past said second slanted position, and means to support said tablet in said horizontal position.

4. The chair in claim 3 wherein said bracket means comprises a pair of rigid upstanding arms having a pair of spaced, cylindrical, coaxial mounting fingers; said tablet includes collar means fitting around said fingers to form the pivotal connection; and retention means on at least one of said fingers abutting the respective collar to retain said arm tablet in a mounted condition.

5. A stacking tablet chair comprising: a seat; a pair of leg on each side of said seat extending downwardly therefrom and inclined from each other to support the seat and to allow vertical telescoping of said legs over the legs of an identical chair; a generally U-shaped bracket means on one side of said seat including a lower crosspiece and a pair of rigid, slightly outwardly inclined upstanding arms; a generally horizontal member extending between said arms generally at their upper ends and pivotal thereon; a tablet mounted on said connecting member for movement between a horizontal position over said seat and a generally vertical position somewhat more than ninety degrees removed from said horizontal position; stop means between said arms and said member limiting said vertical position to an outward, upward slant; said lower cross-piece serving as bearing means to support one side of said chair on another identical chair beneath it when stacked; and bearing means on the opposite side of said chair from said one side to support said opposite side on the identical chair beneath it when stacked.

6. An arm tablet chair stackable without removal of the tablet, comprising: a seat having a pair of legs on each side thereof extending therefrom to support said seat; said legs being inclined from each other whereby the legs of said chair may be vertically telescoped over the legs of an identical chair; a pair of elements, one extending between and secured to both legs of each of said pairs of legs and vertically spaced between said seat and the lower ends of said legs; said elements having upper and lower bearing surfaces extending outwardly from the outer sides of said legs, said upper bearing surfaces forming supports on which the lower bearing surfaces of leg braces of an identical chair seat when two of the chairs are stacked with the legs and seats of the chairs slightly spaced vertically; arm tablet support bracket means having portions forming one of said pair of elements and extending upwardly therefrom alongside and above said seat; an arm tablet mounted on said bracket means with a front to rear pivotal connection; said tablet being laterally pivotal about said connection from a first horizontal use position, to a second generally upright position slightly past true vertical to a slight outward slant for stacking; cooperative stop means between said bracket means and said tablet, positioned to engage and prevent further rotational movement on said axis past said second position, and means to support said tablet in said horizontal position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A STACKABLE ARM TABLET CHAIR CAPABLE OF STACKING WITHOUT REMOVAL OF THE ARM TABLET, COMPRISING: A BASE; A SEAT MOUNTED ON SAID BASE; ARM TABLET SUPPORT BRACKET MEANS AFFIXED TO SAID BASE AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY ALONGSIDE AND ABOVE SAID SEAT; AN ARM TABLET MOUNTED ON SAID BRACKET MEANS WITH A PIVOTAL CONNECTION WITH A FRONT TO REAR PIVOTAL AXIS WITH RESPECT TO SAID SEAT; SAID TABLET BEING PIVOTAL ABOUT SAID AXIS, LATERALLY WITH RESPECT TO SAID SEAT, FROM A HORIZONTAL USE POSITION TO A SECOND, GENERALLY VERTICAL STACKING POSITION; SAID TABLET HAVING PORTIONS COOPERATIVELY ENGAGED WITH SAID BRACKET MEANS TO MAINTAIN ITS VERTICAL POSITION UNTIL PURPOSELY SHIFTED TO ITS HORIZONTAL POSITION, AND SAID TABLET BEING SLIGHTLY PAST THE TRUE VERTICAL PLANE IN SAID SECOND POSITION, TO TILT LATERALLY AND UPWARDLY DIAGONALLY OUTWARDLY AWAY FROM SAID SEAT, THEREBY ALLOWING TABLET INTERNESTING WITH STACKING OF SAID CHAIR WITH IDENTICAL CHAIRS. 